7.30am: I get up and check the weather before deciding whether or not to brave the eight-mile cycle to the office. Fortunately, it’s a warm and sunny morning so I make my way into the office by bike and take in the views of the City. When arriving at the office I put my bike in the designated bike store and head to the new shower and changing room facilities and place my cycle kit in the drying room for the journey home.

9.00am: With the new subsidised café up and running and the go-to place for breakfast, I grab a cooked breakfast and a coffee while catching up with various colleagues across the firm then when I arrive at my desk I catch up with my supervising partner and associates. The IP & technology partners have recently returned from a business trip to Boston and New York where they were visiting clients and fellow law firms, so my room is inevitably keen to hear how this went. I then read through my emails, replying to any which can be dealt with quickly.

9.30am: Having recently drafted a comprehensive privacy policy for a client, we have received a number of follow-up questions concerning the existing and forthcoming requirements relating to its direct marketing practices. I am asked by the supervising associate to prepare a draft response to the questions for us to discuss. Responding to the questions requires a technical analysis of current and future data protection and e-privacy law so I research the relevant law and regulatory guidance and prepare a draft response to the client which we then discuss.

11.30am: We have been carrying out a complicated intellectual property reorganisation for a client involving a large number of commercial agreements involving eight different jurisdictions. A number of comments have come in from the client and their tax advisors on our drafts of the agreements. After discussing the comments with the supervising associate, I am responsible for making the consequential drafting amendments to the agreements and, where further information is required, preparing questions in advance of an all-parties call this afternoon.

1.00pm: After a busy morning, a few other trainees and I choose to go out for lunch rather than going to the café. With the office being located just a few minutes’ walk from Farringdon, St Paul’s and Chancery Lane, there is never a shortage of options.

1.45pm: When I get back to my desk, I respond to any emails which have come in while I was at lunch. Just before the all-parties call, the partner, three associates and I sit down to decide who will need to address each question from the morning’s work and the order in which this will occur.

2.00pm: We then send out the processed agreements to the client and their tax advisor for further review of the documentation.

3.30pm: My supervising partner approaches me with an urgent request for a private equity client who has requested a bespoke due diligence questionnaire for a potential acquisition and would like a draft for review tomorrow. I am sent the information memorandum and access to the data room in order to familiarise myself with the target business and our precedent due diligence questionnaire as a base for my amendments.

7.00pm: After looking through my to-do list and checking that I have finished everything that I had planned to do today, it is time to attend the monthly drinks evening for my department. Because of the nice weather, we’re heading to the client dining room terrace for us to enjoy our drinks in the sun.

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